Expert panel: VET in crisis

It is time that we recognise that a new model of vocational education is needed in Australia. The current social settlement between VET and society is not working and VET is in crisis.

This presentation will consider:

Why VET is in crisis – the connection between competencies and markets

The links between vocational education and the labour market in shaping (shaky) transitions

What a ‘policy rich’ vocational education policy would look like

Qualifications, capabilities and vocational streams

The institutional conditions that are needed to sustain a strong vocational education system – the role of TAFE as anchor institutions

Professor Leesa Wheelahan is the William G. Davis Chair in Community College Leadership at Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto, Canada. Leesa has published widely on lifelong learning, tertiary education policy, student equity, recognition of prior learning, credit-transfer and student articulation between the sectors of post-compulsory education and training, cross-sectoral relations between the VET and higher education sectors, and the role of theoretical knowledge in curriculum.